A Worker Cooperative

Establishing a Worker Cooperative for Business Succession Planning


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Module Descriptions


What is a Worker Cooperative?

Cooperatives are values-driven businesses that are owned and controlled by their members, and they operate for the benefit of those members. Worker cooperatives provide jobs for their members, who work in the business and share its profits. This introductory session describes what makes a worker cooperative a worker cooperative, from its principles to its structure to its processes. It shares some real-world contemporary examples of Black-led worker cooperatives to illustrate the central concepts.  

Learning Objectives

At the completion of this module, you should be able to:

  • Understand the basics of the worker cooperative structure.
  • Assess whether a worker cooperative is a good fit for your business.
  • Identify next steps in forming or growing a worker cooperative.
Instructor

Worker Cooperatives and African American Cooperative Economics: Origin Stories

African American communities have a rich history of cooperative economics that connects to the experiences of Black-led worker cooperatives today, using cooperatives to create access to good jobs and new markets. Dr. Jessica Gordon Nembhard will share why and how cooperatives have supported Black communities to thrive by rooting economic activity in cooperative values and principles, and worker-owners will describe the vision, commitments, and impacts of their worker cooperatives.

Part 1 will feature Andrea Talley of Mandela Grocery Cooperative and Vinny Green of Taharka Brothers Ice Cream sharing their cooperatives’ startup pathways working with community-based organizations.

Part 2 will feature founding members of ChiFresh Kitchen in Chicago and Tamah Yisrael of Resolve Financial Services Cooperative

Learning Objectives

At the completion of this module, you should be able to:

  • Understand the functional relationships between worker cooperatives and movements for civil rights and community empowerment.
  • Identify benefits of and common success factors for cooperatives that come from and serve Black communities.
  • Identify the pathways to startup for cooperative entrepreneurs, including the strengths and challenges of partnering with a nonprofit organization to start a worker cooperative.
  • Understand the basics of profit-sharing and shared ownership forms.
Instructors

Part 1:

Dr. Jessica Gordon Nembhard, John Jay College at the City University of New York

Vincent Green, Taharka Brothers Ice Cream

Andrea Talley, Mandela Grocery Cooperative

Part 2:

Kimberly Britt, Chi Fresh Kitchen

Edrinna Bryant, Chi Fresh Kitchen

Dr. Jessica Gordon Nembhard, John Jay College at the City University of New York

Daniel McWilliams, Chi Fresh Kitchen

Sarah Stadtfeld, Chi Fresh Kitchen

Renee Taylor, Chi Fresh Kitchen

Tamah Yisrael, Resolve Financial Cooperative


> View the Instructor Bios for the Worker Cooperative program


Using the Cooperative Advantage to Grow

The Cooperative Advantage, which includes a people-centered approach to development and a focus on strategic partnerships, is a cornerstone of African-American management traditions, and has supported business growth from Black Wall street to today. Adria Powell, CEO of Cooperative Home Care Associates, shares how CHCA’s “Quality Care Through Quality Jobs” approach grew a single cooperative to a very large size. Maru Bautista, former cooperative development director at the Center for Family Life, describes the Brightly franchise model for growing many networked small worker cooperative businesses.

Learning Objectives

At the completion of this module, you should be able to: 

  • Understand the elements of Cooperative Advantage, how Black entrepreneurs have used it, and how cooperative businesses can use it to grow.
  • Identify the role that people-centered development and strategic partnerships play in two real-world worker cooperative growth strategies.
  • Understand why a cooperative might choose a networked franchise model or a one-big-entity approach to growing using Cooperative Advantage.
Instructors

Maru Bautista, Brightly Cooperatives

Dr. Leon Prieto, Clayton State University

Adria Powell, Cooperative Home Care Associates


> View the Instructor Bios for the Worker Cooperative program


Four Corner Posts of Democratic Management

Management in a worker cooperative differs from conventional business management in some key ways that flow from its democratic principles and structure. Managing in a people-centered way and cultivating a culture of equitable and active engagement is critical for the financial and organizational success of a cooperative. Ngozi Okaro, founder of Custom Collaborative and the Fashion That Works production cooperative, shares an example of a startup worker cooperative moving through a management dilemma concerning mutual accountability between management and workers.

Learning Objectives

At the completion of this module, you should be able to:

  • Make the connections between justice, equity, diversity and inclusion in the workplace and democratic management principles.
  • Understand and be able to identify the Four Cornerposts of democratic management in practice.
  • Understand the role of a democratic workplace manager, how it builds on the conventional manager role, and some of the skills needed to manage a democratic workplace.
Instructor

Governance in Worker Cooperatives

The various stakeholder groups in a worker cooperative -- members, managers, and the Board -- must work together and autonomously to make decisions and effectively govern the enterprise. Governance consultant Jamila Medley of Philadelphia Area Cooperative Alliance lays out effective governance structures and decision-making processes. She also discusses how worker cooperatives can be sites for developing governance knowledge and practices that are valuable as Black communities in the United States exercise the right of self-determination and collective governance at the community level as well as the business level.

Learning Objectives

Learning objectives:

At the completion of this module, you should be able to:

  • Understand the concept of “governance” in the context of a cooperative business and identify elements of effective governance.
  • Understand the difference between governance and management, and the relationship between Board, members and managers in a worker cooperative.
  • Use standard tools in setting up decision-making processes for a worker cooperative.
Instructor

Jamila Medley, Philadelphia Area Cooperative Alliance


> View the Instructor Bios for the Worker Cooperative program


Developing Worker Cooperative Structures: Legal Considerations

Worker cooperatives take a legal structure that has historically been used to disempower Black communities and turn it on its head to center people, by creating workplaces where workers can maintain their dignity and voice. Attorney Julian Hill explores the African roots of shared ownership, and discusses pathways to forming a worker cooperative. This guided scenario exercise walks participants through a series of questions about entity choice, formation cost, governance, owner liability, employment issues, and taxation.  

Learning objectives

At the completion of this module, you should be able to:

  • Understand how to use legal structures not designed for the benefit of Black communities to set up worker cooperatives. 
  • Understand the major legal entity choices for worker cooperatives and how they function.
  • Assess basic entity choice considerations, including formation cost, governance, liability, employment and taxes.
Instructor

Julian Hill, Georgetown University Law Center


> View the Instructor Bios for the Worker Cooperative program


Capital for Worker Cooperatives and Other Employee-Owned Businesses

Capital plays a key role in the formation of worker cooperatives, especially those that are converted from conventional businesses. Todd Leverette of Apis & Heritage Advisors and Jennifer Bryant of Washington Area Community Investment Fund (Wacif) explore the capital options available to worker-owned businesses, explain the different considerations for debt and equity, and share how to access capital for growing a shared ownership business. This session also explores various opportunities for investors interested in supporting shared business ownership in Black communities.

Learning Objectives

At the completion of this module, you should be able to: 

  • Understand the various sources of capital for worker cooperatives and businesses transitioning to cooperative ownership.
  • Distinguish between the debt and equity capital.
  • Understand the “capital stack” for financing the conversion of a business to cooperative ownership.
Instructors

 Jennifer Bryant, Wacif

Todd Leverette, Apis & Heritage Advisors


> View the Instructor Bios for the Worker Cooperative program